Intravenous drips are commonly used to administer a continuous flow of fluid to a patient for a predetermined length of time. The intravenous drip set generally includes a bag or container of intravenous fluid that is connected through a series of conduits comprising of flexible tubing, chambers and monitoring devices to a cannula inserted into a vein of the patient. The bag or container is supported at a higher elevation than the patient, so that the intravenous fluid flows down through the conduits by the force of gravity.
The drips are checked at regular intervals by nursing staff to ensure that the drip is working properly at all times and that the fluid is flowing into the patient at the correct rate. Such intravenous infusion systems have to be faithfully monitored by the nurse, to confirm that the delivery is not interrupted; that complete emptying does not take place; and that administration does not occur at a rate different from the prescribed rate. This would result, in the first case in an unnecessary lengthening of administration time; in the second case, the drawing of blood into the tube because its pressure is no longer opposed by that of the drip liquid; and in the third case, delivery at a rate other than the prescribed rate may have harmful consequences to the patient and his treatment.
Therefore, regulating the rate of flow through the intravenous drip set into the patient to achieve a desired or necessary rate of infusion of the fluid is essential and sometimes critical to successful patient treatment. It is also necessary, at regular intervals, to flush the system to achieve the optimum result and prolonging the use of the peripheral line.
To maintain a peripheral line flow, it is important to ensure that the flow of the liquid is always in good condition. In prior art devices, this is normally achieved by flushing with an additional syringe, drawing the fluid from the intravenous line and flushing it back inside. However this process of repeated punctuating of the line increases the risk of infection to the patient and increases the cost of having to replace every time with sterile syringes. Flushing is usually done when the flow is found to be decreasing and in order to maintain the desired flow. It is also done prior to an operation, to ensure that the flow of the medication during operation is uninterrupted. Flushing is also carried out preferably before intravenous medication is infused to prevent extravasation and after intravenous medication, to ensure the medication flows properly into the blood stream.
Prior art devices include expensive and sophisticated machines which are attached to the intravenous line separately and controlled either mechanically or electronically to monitor and regulate the flow as well as perform the flushing function. These devices are designed to be shared, when in use, and are not available for use, every time, on every intravenous line as that would be inconvenient, as well as uneconomical to do so. In most establishments, it is not possible to attach these devices on every intravenous line in use, as a result of which manual flushing is generally carried out.
Conventional methods of manual flushing which includes the use of the syringe, also may be attempted by simply increasing the flow of the intravenous drip by adjusting the regulator to provide a wider opening, or in most cases by the nurse simply milking the intravenous device by twirling the tube round her fingers and compressing the tube by squeezing the fluid proximally towards the patient, especially when getting additional syringes would be unavailable or inconvenient.
There is therefore a need for a simple, economical yet efficient in-built device that can perform both the task of regulating as well as flushing the intravenous line that can automatically be incorporated into every intravenous set in use.